At E3 last week, in a behind closed doors presentation called Xbox 101, Microsoft engineering manager Jeff Henshaw - not a member of the PR team, he points out - tells a small gathering of journalists that Xbox One's 300,000 server cloud gives the next-generation console a unique advantage.
It's a somewhat abstract claim that Microsoft made first only a few weeks earlier during its Xbox One reveal event, and it's been dismissed by more than a few developers, including The Witness creator Jonathan Blow, as little more than a marketing trick. Digital Foundry's In Theory analysis concluded: "Microsoft needs to prove its position with strong ideas and practical demonstrations. Until then, it's perhaps best not to get too carried away with the idea of a super-powered console, and there's very little evidence that Sony needs to be worried about its PS4 specs advantage being comprehensively wiped out by 'the power of the cloud'."
